Films and Videos

The Copyright Act amendments enacted on June 29, 2012 that came into effect on November 7, 2012 included expansion of the educational exceptions to copyright infringement to cover the public performance of cinematographic works (e.g., films and videos). Section 29.5 (d) of the Copyright Act provides that the public performance of a film or video in class is not an infringement of copyright as long as:

the work is not an infringing copy

the performance takes place on the University's premises

the performance is for educational or training purposes and not for profit, and

the audience consists primarily of the University's students, instructors or individuals responsible for the University's curriculum.

Provided that the above public performance conditions are met, any film or video may be screened in class without copyright owner permission whether the work is owned or licensed by the Library, publicly accessible via the Internet or owned, borrowed or rented by the instructor.

Prior to November 7, 2012 the University Library held two licensing agreements that allowed for classroom use (noncommercial public performances) of feature films represented by Audio Cine Films Inc. (ACF) and Criterion Pictures. These agreements required the University to report each of its public performance uses regardless of whether the film was owned by the Library, rented from a video store, or acquired through interlibrary loan.

As of March 1, 2013 the Library's Criterion Pictures and ACF licenses have expired and were not renewed. Public performance reporting for classroom screenings of films licensed by Criterion Pictures and ACF is therefore no longer required.